[K12OSN] disklessworkstations.com

[Daniel Howard]

We purchased over 60 Devon IT Ntavos (6020Ps) and they've been great, 
sound works right out of the box.  We're actually about to test 
microphone input in order to try an online french language skills 
evaluation web site.  We had one unit fail, and Devon IT promply 
replaced it, minimal effort.

I agree 100% with John on using older PCs as a temporary step to moving 
to all diskless workstations due to both space and electricity, those 
turned out to be the final issue we had at Brandon.  Luckily, our 
transition to all new diskless thin client workstations was fastracked 
due to the district deciding to roll out new K12LTSP thin clients to 7 
schools in a pilot project this year.  But without the transitional step 
of showing the district how well K12LTSP worked using old PCs and the 
benefits of drastically increasing the number of PCs in each classroom 
via donations, we would have never made it to the pilot, and wouldn't 
have convinced them to target a 2:1 student to PC ratio.  So, unless you 
can convince district folks without showing them (or your local PTA and 
principal if they have the intestinal fortitude to do it by themselves), 
I think the usual case for the next few years will be that we help 
schools convert aging PCs to thin clients and after proving the 
benefits, can start helping them plan for moving to new diskless thin 
clients.

After we told APS IT folk about the substantial power savings, they had 
one of their techs do some measurements, here's the results with both 
being in full operation (not idle):

Diskless thin client: 40W
Old PCs (average of many models used throughout the district): over 500W
LCD monitors (variety tested): average of 100W
15" CRTs commonly deployed: 172W

We also received several donated CRT monitors that are 17" and some 19", 
imagine the additional power draw...

Note that I also now believe that a component of this better solution 
for schools is to also have a group of standalone Linux PCs for 
computationally intensive applications such as Gimp, Blender, Audacity, 
etc.  We're thinking when the pilot rolls out the new diskless thin 
clients to Brandon, we'll take some of the better servers and convert 
them to Multimedia production/editing stations and either put them in 
the computer lab or on carts/tables in the hallways for 5th and 4th 
graders to use.  Stay tuned.

On the lighter side, Brandon Elementary is now seen as an advanced 
technology testbed for Atlanta Public Schools, we're commonly called the 
"APS Skunkworks" a reference to Lockheed's advanced aircraft development 
facility.  We've come a long way from being an insurgency...

Regards, Daniel
-- 
Daniel Howard
President and CEO
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation


> Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:29:50 -0400
> From: John Lucas <mrjohnlucas at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [K12OSN] disklessworkstations.com
> 
> On Friday 15 September 2006 12:00, k12osn-request at redhat.com wrote:
>> My mistake, I meant to say power wattage. We have a small study room with
>> eight new Dell Optiplex PC's that kicks out a lot of heat. As a result the
>> room gets very hot with the PC's on. I suspect these workstations have very
>> small power requirements which translate to less heat being exhausted and
>> cooler rooms.
>>
>> Ray
>>
> 
> I actually measured the power consumption of the LTSP150e by using "apcupsd" 
> and an APC UPS.
> 
> In this sample case the PC is a 450Mhz Pentium II with 256MB of RAM and a 20GB 
> HD with a 15" LCD monitor. The terminal was measured with the same 15" LCD 
> monitor.
> 		Power Draw in VA (Volt-Amps) measured with "apcupsd"
>         
> 	PC		120VA
>         
> 	Terminal	60VA
> 
> Keep in mind that the PC was "idle". Consumption goes up when the drives are 
> in use. This represent not only savings direct consumption, but also from 
> power protection costs are halved and air-conditioning costs are marginally 
> reduced.
> 
> I am convinced that using old PCs as terminals is best thought of as a 
> short-term strategy; best used to demonstrate the versatility of LTSP, but 
> long-term I definitely think that dedicated diskless terminals are the way to 
> go. Another example is the DevonIT NTA 6020P, which is functionally similar 
> the the LTSP150 but costs only $149. 
> 
> 	http://www.ntavo.com/ntaterminal.php
> 
> I have one of each and they both work with USB Flashram Drives (USB v1.1) and 
> Esound. Either one would make anyone administering LTSP very happy.
>